Jack Duggan

A £200 reward is on offer in a bid to find two beloved milk churns used as ashtrays stolen from a Street Ashton hotel.

The pair of metal containers were taken from Ashton Lodge Country House at around 10.30pm on Thursday, March 16.

Ashton Lodge Country House

CCTV footage shows a hooded man walk up the hotel’s drive, pick up the churns and walk out within minutes.

Owner Claire Stevens believes the thief knew what he was after and struggled to comprehend why anyone would do such a thing.

“I’d quite happily pay someone £200 to get them back. We’re a small family run business, we’ve put a lot of hard work into it over the last seven years, and it’s really galling to have someone come up and nick your stuff,” she said.

Mrs Stevens believes the thief knew in advance what he was stealing because it was a quick ‘job’ and the other three churns were left, as well as the all the other garden furniture.

“The annoying thing is we hold open days and it’s clear that the person who took them knew what they were after. It must have been someone who came to the venue, liked them so decided to come back and take them,” she said.

Other reasons the theft is hard to understand are the churns are weighted down with bricks and water, plus they are not worth much more than £100 each.

Mrs Stevens wrote a Facebook post about the theft which got a lot of shares and comments, which she hopes will help find whoever did it.

“Maybe someone knows someone who’s acquired two milk churns in the last few days,” she said.